The Institute has been an important host to a number of visiting faculty and doctoral and post-doctoral affiliates. This, and its collaboration on important research projects and other academic programmes such as sponsoring seminars, have resulted in mutually beneficial interaction and association with prestigious academic and development institutions both in India and abroad. The Institute provides affiliation to foreign scholars ranging from six months to one year. Interested scholars can apply either directly or by contacting appropriate faculty members of MIDS. The affiliation is provided under the Foreign Student Information System (FSIS). The FSIS is a system for foreign students registration and tracking and it is a module of the IVFRT (Immigration, Visas, Foreigners Registration and Tracking) project under the national e-governance programme of Government of India. Through FSIS, MIDS will submit the "S" form to FRRO giving details of the course, academic performance, etc. of the concerned foreign student affiliated with MIDS.
Mr. Mahishan Gnanaseharan, Department of History, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA from 30-09-2022 to 30-06-2023 "Nationalizing Self-Respect: A History of Relations Among Periyar, Ambedkar & Jinnah". Guide: Prof. A.R. Venkatachalapathy, MIDS.
Mr. Theo Whitcomb, University of Redlands, California, USA, from 09-09-2022 to 30-06-2023 "Politics of Adaptation: Development, US-India Internationalism, and the Climate Crisis". Guide: Dr. Karen Coelho, Associate Professor, MIDS.
Dr. Eleanor A Power, Assistant Professor, Department of Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Science, U.K., from 15-07-2022 to 14-07-2024, " Social and Economic Inequality in Rural Tamil Nadu". Guide: Dr. A. Kalaiyarasan, Assistant Professor, MIDS.
Ms. Maria White, Ph.D. Student, College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA. from 01-03-2022 to 30-11-2022, " Hinduism: Digital Religion and Sociality in Tamil Nadu". Guide: Prof. A.R. Venkatachalapathy, MIDS.
Ms. Ieva Zumbyte, Ph.D., Student, Department of Sociology, Brown University, from 01-01-2021 to 16-01-2022, "Childcare arrangements in urban settlements in India". Guide: Dr. A. Kalaiyarasan, Assistant Professor, MIDS.
Prof. Hodges Sarah Elizabeth, Professor, Dept. of History, University of Warwick, Coventry CV47AL, U.K., from 01-07-2019 to 30-06-2020, The making of "India": Affordable pharmacy to the world', 1970-present (with particular attention to Tamil Nadu)". Guide: Prof. S. Anandhi, MIDS.
Ms. Ieva Zumbyte, Ph.D., Student, Department of Sociology, Brown University, from 01-06-2019 to 31-08-2019, "The Social Economic and Political conditions that can explain variations in public childcare provision within a city in the Global South and the second part of "Women's work patterns and more broadly gender relations in the family and the Community, when there is access to good public childcare". Guide: Dr. A. Kalaiyarasan, Assistant Professor, MIDS.
Mr. Hari Ramesh, Ph.D. Student, Department of Political Science, Yale University, USA, India, Contestations of Democratic Rule, A.R. Venkata chalapathy, 2017.
Professor Karen Pechilis, Drew University, New Jersey, USA, USA, Women and Work in Urban South India Today, Guide: S. Anandhi, 2017.
Professor Karen Pechilis, Drew University, New Jersey, USA, USA, Women and Work in Urban South India Today, Guide: D. Jayaraj, 2016.
Emily Stevenson, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK, The Post-Colonial Consumption of Colonial Legacies: The Contemporary Social Life of Postcards from British India, Guide: A.R. Venkata chalapathy, 2016.
Crispin Branfoot, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, UK, Construction, Renovation, Conservation: the Tamil temple in colonial south India 1850-1920, Guide: A.R. Venkata chalapathy, 2016.
Deepa S.Raj, Director, Fiscal Analysis Division, Department of Economic and Policy Research, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai, India, Changing Patterns in Public Expenditure in Education and Health: Outlays and Outcomes, Guide: D. Jayaraj, 2015.
Dennis B. McGilvary, University of Colorado, USA, Matrilocal Marriage on the South Indian Coast, Guide: A.R. Venkata chalapathy, 2015.
Nithya Natarajan, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, United Kingdom, India, Agrarian transition and "Green Gold": A Political economy of small-scale tobacco cultivation in South India, Guide: D. Jayaraj, 2015.
Brendan Donegan, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom, Industrialisation and economic development in Tamil Nadu, India, Guide: Karen Coelho, 2014.
Shakthi Nataraj, University of California, Berkeley, USA, India, Cowdis, Kothis, and Colonial Ethnographies: LGBT identity in Tamil activist narratives, Guide: A.R. Venkata chalapathy, 2014.
Evelien de Hoop, Technical University of Eindhoven, Netherlands, Bio fuels in India: Flowing through Time and Space in Tiny Conduits in India, Guide: Ajit Menon, 2013.
Dr Amanda Weidman, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Title: Female Voices in the Public Sphere: Playback Singing as Cultural Pehnomemnon in South India. Duration: 4.12.2012 to 3.5.2013. Guide: Prof A R Venkatachalapathy.
Dr Carolyn Heitmeyer, Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex. Title: Bio networking in India. Duration: 3.9.2012 to 2.3.2013. Guide: Dr Karen Coelho.
Mr Kazuo Kobayashi, Department of Economic History, London School of Economics, UK. Title: Indian Cotton Textiles in West Africa: African Consumbers in a Globalising World 1799-1850. Duration: 6.8.2012 to 2.4.2013. Guide: Prof Maria Saleth.
Dr. Wendy Singer, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, USA. Title: A History of Representing the Under-represented: From the Madras Municipal Council of 1919 to the Women's Bill. Duration January - June 2012. Guide: Dr S Anandhi.
Mr. Matthew H. Baxter, Ph.D. Student, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA Title: Periyar, Ambedkar, and Gandhi: A Study in Comparative Political Theory. Duration (5.1.09 to 4.10.09) Guide: Prof A R Venkatachalapathy.
Ms. Kitana S. Ananda, Colombia University, New York, USA Title: Home, Family and Politics after a Ceasefire: Becoming Tamil Subjects in Diaspora. Duration (7.1.2009 to 6.07.2009) Guide: Prof A R Venkatachalapathy.
Mr. Leonardo Niccolai, Ph.D. Student, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, U.K. Title: Development with Identity: Using Traditional Knowledge in Promotion of Sustainable Livelihoods and Biodiversity Conservation in Nilgiris Biosphere. Duration (24.12.2008 to 23.06.2009) Guide: Dr Ajit Menon.
Ms. Annika Wetlesen, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway Title: Implementation of labour standards: Experiences from the construction industry in Chennai, India. Duration (16.12.08 to 15.06.09) Guide: Dr M Vijayabaskar.
Dr. Grace Carswell, Department of Geography, University of Sussex, United Kingdom Title: Transforming Livelihoods: Migration,work and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India. Duration (6.11.08 to 5.5.09) Guide: Prof P Radhakrishnan.
Dr. Geert De Neve, Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex, United Kingdom Title: Transforming Livelihoods: Migration,work and poverty in the Tiruppur garment cluster, India. Duration( 6.11.08 to 5.5.09) Guide: Prof P Radhakrishnan.
Ms. Giulia Battaglia, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Title: Media activism and documentary film making in south India. Duration (15.4.08 to 14.4.09) Guide: Prof A R. Venkatachalapathy.
Ms.Roos Gerritson, CNWS, School of Asia, African and Amerindian Studies, The Netherlands. From Movie Star to Public Star: The Entanglement of Cinema and Politics in South India. Duration (7.12.07 to 6.11.08) Guide: Prof A R Venkatachalapathy.
Ms.Sudha Narayan, Ph.D.Student, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, U.S.A. Title: Choosing Farmers: Selection and Screening Mechanisms in Contract Farming Systems in India. Duration (2.1.08 to 30.9.08) Guide: Prof K Nagaraj.
Ms. Victoria Loblay,6/5, Imperial Ave, Bondi, NSW,Australia Title: Arresting Amnicentesis: The Impact of regulating pre-natal diagnostic technology in Tamil Nadu, South India. Duration ( 31.3.08 to 31.8.08) Guide: Dr S Anandhi.
2003-2004
Dr. Balakrishna Rajagopal, Ford International Professor of Law and Development, Massachuselts Institute of Technology (10-12-2003).
Dr. Cecilia C. Van Hollen, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, University of Notre Dame, IN, USA, Guide: Prof Padmini Swaminathan (3-12-2003).
Mr. Darshan Ambalavanar, Harvard University, Arumuga Navalar and Modernity in South Asia, Guide : Dr. A. R. Venkatachalapathy (28-7-2003).
Dr. Filippo Osella, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Sussex and Dr. Caroline Osella, Lecturer in Sociology & Anthropology at SOAS, University of London, Guide : Prof V K Natraj (21-10-2002).
Mr. Francis P. Cody, Fulbright Scholar and Doctoral candidate, University of Michigan, Language Literacy and Power in Tamilnadu, India, Guide : Dr A R Venkatachalapathy (13-8-2002).
Dr. Gunnel Cederl, Uppsala University, Claims and Right: The Politics of Forest in Colonial and Post-Colonial India, Guide: Prof. S. Subramanian (6-10-2003).
Ms. Krishten C. Bloomer, studying Ph.D. at University of Chicago, De-centering the subject: Women and Popular Catholicism in Tamilnadu, Guide: Dr A R Venkatachalapathy (5-2-2004).
Dr. Nitish Jha, formerly Post doctoral Scientist at the International Management Institute, South Africa, Guide : Prof. S. Janakarajan (5-5-2004).
Ms. Pushpa Arabindo, M.Phil/Ph.D. Student in Urban Planning at the department of the Geography and Environment, London School of Economics (10-10-2003).
2002-2003
Dr. Caroline Osella, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, U.K., Consumption in India: Commercialisation, Social Mobility and Changing Identities, Guide : Prof V K Natraj
Dr. Flilippo Osella, Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Sussex, Guide : Prof. V. K. Natraj
Mr. Darshan Ambalavanar, Harvard University, Arumuga Navalar and Modernity in South Asia, Guide : Dr. A. R. Venkatachalapathy
Mr. Francis P. Cody, Fulbright Scholar and Doctoral candidate, University of Michigan, Language Literacy and Power in Tamilnadu, India, Guide : Dr A R Venkatachalapathy
2001-2002
Nicholas Nisbett, University of Sussex, U.K., Information and Communication Technology in Community Development, Guide : Prof Nirmal Sengupta
Caroline Osella, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, U.K., Consumption in India: Commercialisation, Social Mobility and Changing Identities, Guide : Prof V K Natraj
S.M. Abdul Khader Fakhri, Independent Scholar, Chennai, Caste, Ethnicity and nation in the politics of the Muslims in Tamilnadu, India 1930-1967(rewriting), Guide : Prof Padmini Swaminathan
Martin Rogers, University of Sussex, U.K., Men and the Performing Arts and media in Chennai, Guide: Dr Ananta Kumar Giri